AHA MEDIA is very proud to help provide social media coverage of the 9th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival 2012 in Vancouver

AHA MEDIA is very proud to help provide social media coverage of the 8th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in Vancouver from pre-festival events starting Mon Oct 15, 2012 through to the Main Festival during Wed Oct 24 – Sun Nov 4, 2012.

Welcome to the 2012 Heart of the City Festival

The Downtown Eastside is our home, a home we share with thousands of other diverse people who deeply love this community. The poet Muriel Marjorie (Williams), who graces the cover of this year’s program guide, shouts it out so eloquently: “I love the Downtown Eastside because of its beauty and its strength, its refusal to SHUT UP and its insistence upon justice.”

This line of fiery poetry exemplifies the theme of this year’s festival: Voices from the Heart.

Here you will hear voices that inform, raise awareness and educate about the stories, concerns, values, heritage, art forms, community plans and exciting art generated in Vancouver’s founding community.

Voices that speak to the wisdom and power of our community and the challenges it faces. And voices that celebrate the neighbourhood’s indigenous stories so that old and new community members can draw strength from the community’s heritage, feel pride in its residents and values and understand its roots.

Thank you to our community partners and all those in the community who have helped realize this year’s event, our ninth annual festival. Thank you to our festival team who have worked with such dedication to produce, promote and present the many events throughout our neighbourhood at this year’s festival. And a special heartfelt thank you to Teresa Vandertuin (Associate Artistic Producer) for the passion, commitment, care, thoroughness and sense of humour she pours into the festival.

The Festival is thrilled to partner with the DTES’s AHA Media to provide social media coverage (video/photos/blog) of the Heart of the City Festival. AHA Media gives voice to our local community and provides services for individuals and organizations to share their news and special events on a broader scale through social media. Founded in 2008 by local artists April Smith, Hendrik Beune, and Al Tkatch, AHA Media previously collaborated with Fearless City Media and has an ongoing working relationship with W2Community Media Arts and various other organizations and individuals in the DTES community. The members of AHA Media describe themselves as “definitely not mainstream media”. Based in Vancouver’s DTES, their style is described as non-invasive and unassuming.

Say Hello to AHA Media as they visit the Festival events. They will be happy to chat with you. Stay connected to the festival with AHA’s links – see photos/videos of the festival events you attended; take in a festival event you missed; or follow one festival event while you are attending another!